Josh McCown shows Jay Cutler not worth $100 million

Well, I got my wish. I kept asking to see Josh McCown play three games so I could judge how much Jay Cutler worth. The verdict is now in: Not $100 million.

And probably not even a one-year, $20 million deal where the Bears slap the franchise tag on Jay Cutler.

I like Jay Cutler. And I think he's a good quarterback, the best the Bears have had in 50 years.

But that says more about Bears quarterbacks than it does about Jay Cutler.

Jay Cutler is simply not a $20-million a year quarterback.

I'd pay him $12 million a year. Maybe even $14 million. But no more.

And when you pay someone more than that who is not worth it, you wind up with what the Ravens (4-6) got with Joe Flacco.

Think about it. Jay Cutler has NEVER had a passer rating of even 90. Why would that be worth $20 million a year?

There is one reason why: Because the Bears would be lost without him.

You could have made that argument the last several years. Especially when the Bears spiraled downward any time Cutler was hurt and Caleb Hanie or even Jason Campbell came in.

But this year the Bears have actually looked better with Josh McCown at the helm. The career journeyman who was a high school teacher before the Bears rescued him off the scrap heap has a 100 passer rating in four games. That includes under the toughest possible scenarios: At Green Bay, a two-minute TD drive against the Lions after he sat for 58 minutes, in a huge wind-storm yesterday against the Ravens.

No, I don't think Josh McCown, at age 34, is the long-term answer for the Chicago Bears.

I don't think he is better than Jay Cutler.

But I also don't think Jay Cutler is $19 million a year better than Josh McCown. That's the question here. Not whether Jay Cutler is good, but HOW good is Jay Cutler? And at what price?

Remember, this is supposed to be maybe the deepest quarterback draft of all time. The Bears could draft a Jimmy Garoppolo of Eastern Illinois in the second round, or maybe even the third or fourth round.

After Sunday's win, I say the Bears should plan for a life without Jay Cutler, but also not cut any cords. Let Jay Cutler enter the free-agent market. Make your own offer, perhaps six years for $85 million (as opposed to the bloated six-year, $120.6 million deal the Ravens gave Joe Flacco, who is now the No. 26-rated quarterback for a defending Super Bowl champion that is now tied for last place at 4-6.

Jay Cutler could very well still be the Bears quarterback for the next decade. But Josh McCown has show that with Marc Trestman's quarterback-friendly offense the Bears, for the first time, don't need Jay Cutler as much as Cutler perhaps needs the Chicago Bears.

And if Jay Cutler doesn't see it that way, well, perhaps the Bears can get an even better quarterback in the draft